(a) Technical Field
The present invention relates to an hydrogen recirculation blower for a fuel cell vehicle, in which an ejector is integrated.
(b) Background Art
A fuel cell for a fuel cell vehicle as a power source is configured to generate electricity by reacting oxygen in air and hydrogen as fuel.
The fuel cell includes a separator, an anode, an electrolyte membrane, a cathode, a hydrogen/air/coolant circulating system, an anode flow field, a cathode flow field, and a coolant flow field.
For startup of the fuel cell, hydrogen as fuel is supplied from a hydrogen tank to the anode flow field via a hydrogen supply solenoid valve and a pipe.
To increase fuel efficiency, hydrogen remaining unreacted in the fuel cell is recirculated. In particular, when a hydrogen recirculation system is operated in a state where a purge valve is being closed, the unreacted hydrogen in the fuel cell moves along the pipe and enters the anode flow field via the hydrogen recirculation system and a hydrogen recirculation shut-off valve.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, conventional hydrogen recirculation systems for the fuel cell use either an ejector 101 or a blower 102.
For the ejector-only system, while its power consumption and price are low, it has drawbacks in that, if the amount of hydrogen fuel used in the fuel cell stack decreases, the performance is deteriorated. That is, it cannot guarantee the performance in a wide operation range of a vehicle.
For the blower-only system, on the contrary, while it can provide a desired performance in a wide operation range of a vehicle, its power consumption and price are higher than the ejector-only system.
The information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of the understanding of the background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art that is already known to a person skilled in the art.